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"Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little things well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves." -Dale Carnegie
-Mark Johnson
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Company: A&M Ranch
Location: Sandwich, IL
Years in the Field: 30
Education: BS Animal Science, Oklahoma State University, Joliet Junior College
Website: www.AandMRanch.com
Contact: aandmranch@aol.com
Specialization: purebred Southdown sheep
Choice of Feed: HSC show lamb starter, HSC Grand Lamb Mixer, champion drive topdress
Hobbies: - Mark is the Agricultural Specialist for Kline Creek Farm, an 1890’s Living History Farm, located in Winfield, IL. There they farm with draft horses, and maintain a small quality flock of sheep as well a few Shorthorn and Angus cows, all of which are used in the educational programs.
- As consultants and custom fitters Mark and Amy have worked with most breeds of sheep including Columbias, Suffolks, Hampshires, Dorsets, Montadales, and Natural Coloreds, club lambs and North Country Cheviots. All of which have competed successfully on the local and national level.
Favorite Sports/Team: Loves all things OSU (Oklahoma State or Ohio State), loves the Red Sox, loves the Cubs and Bears.
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Greetings from Sandwich, IL |
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WOW! This year has been a great one! WOW! This year has been weird one! But most of all, this year has been a fun one! This fall has been one of the coolest and wettest in recent memory. It has made harvest late and a challenge. This year’s college football season has been a blast. We finished our show season with terrific showing at the North American International Livestock Exposition. To most of us we just call it Louisville, or do we say “Luhvill.” No matter how you say it, it is the show that all other sheep shows are measured by.
Louisville was a great week for us. It is an event that our whole family works together on. Emily and Amy both like to stay with me for the duration but school and work usually prevent that. It sure is nice having them to ride down with me to get everything in and set up. Some folks say I am little persnickety about how things are set up, YA THINK! We worked on our sheep and also helped Julie Barr, Budd Phelps, Derek & Bill Chapin, Geerts Southdowns, and Manda Geerts-Davis. “The road goes on forever, but the party never ends.” The worst part about setting up at Louisville is the long drag from the unloading area to the pens. I told Budd that if he thought college tuition was expensive, try sending sheep with me to Louisville that weren’t halter broke. He did great. His college fund is safe. In fact everyone had good week, and a good time was had by all. Thanks for your trust, confidence and help.
We had a good week winning two of the three ewe lamb classes and having our Jan. American Express daughter being named Res. Jr. Ch. I was real pleased with how our sheep performed. Amy had them looking great and Emily and I had tried some new things to help get them show ring ready and it really paid off. Thanks “Amily” - you guys are the best crew a guy could have.
What has really changed the whole environment in the sheep barn at the North American is having assigned pens for everyone. The show officials started that several years ago and it has paid huge dividends for everyone. Thanks to Dave Trotter and Dave Merry for tackling this difficult task. We all need to give them a big thanks, more money or at least baked goods.
We are getting the sheep ready to start lambing. We should begin lambing about the third week in Jan. We bred every ewe on the place to New Generation, the 2008 Nat’l Ch. and NAILE Supreme Ch Ram. In the next week or so we will worm the brood ewes, give them their yearly booster shots, and trim feet. We sheared the ewes back in early Oct. A lot of the corn in our area has been coming out real wet. I am concerned about of the white mold, and possible mycotoxin problems that this could create. Poor quality feed during the pregnancy can cause problems ranging from abortion, to ewes not dilating properly, to weak lambs.
Last year we tried some of the Honor Show Chow Ewe feed on the later lambing ewes, and we were very satisfied that it worked. This year we are going to use it 100% of the way along. We had always mixed our ewe feed. It had been cheaper and I like doing it. Now with concerns created by the wet corn it just isn’t worth the risk. They also have the HSC Ewe Feed priced competitively enough at our feed store that isn’t worth my time to haul and mix my own feed. Better feed, priced the same, and less headaches. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. Is it worth saving $20 a ton and risk having to haul that $1000 ewe’s lamb to the dead pile? You can buy a lot of feed with one good LIVE lamb.
Working at Kline Creek Farm in the fall kept me super busy, but it was great. We gave several thousand kids the chance to visit an 1890’s farm and help with harvest. They learned a bunch and have a much better appreciation for farmers and the weather. Kline Creek also spent a good bit of time halter breaking calves in Oct. I did not realize how much I have learned from being around Kirk, Dave, Bob, Dave and Steve. Those guys must be really good. They have managed to teach me about cattle and I didn’t even know I was learning something. That is a skill (or Jedi mind tricks.) The calves sold well and did great at the sale. Kline Creek also sold the Champion Southdown Ewe at the Illini Fall Sale in Champaign, IL. Congrats to Derek Chapin who sold the Champion and top selling Hampshire ewe at that same sale.
2010 is right around the corner and I will be in CA in Jan for W-D Swine Farm’s pig and lamb sale. Watch the HSC events page for other dates where the other Ambassadors and I will be “Coming to a town near you in 2010.” Go Poke! Go Bucks! Don’t bother me on Jan 1 or 2. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See YA!
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